Tales from the Oklahoma Sooner Sideline

by Barry Switzer

  “Cecil wasn’t just part of OU tradition, he became kind of a cult icon,” said Clarke Stroud, who served as a RUF/NEK from 1987-90. “He was a great friend of the RUF/NEKS, an amazing man, very kind, very generous. And what a great Sooner fan. He certainly left a legacy.”

  Even though Samara passed away in July 1994 at age 79, the tradition he started lives on.

  Survey Says

  There has always been a small group of people whose main goal in life is to move the annual Oklahoma-Texas rivalry away from Dallas. Make it a home-and-home series in an effort to bring more revenue to the school’s respective campuses and towns.

  Forces opposing such a change are strong and unyielding. And in a 1994 survey of some 4,400 OU students and season ticket holders, the answer to the question was clear. Just over 81 percent of those who answered the survey preferred the game’s traditional site—the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

  Nice Finish

  A promising 5-0 start had fizzled thanks to three hard-fought conference losses in 1993. It was Gary Gibbs’ fifth year at the helm, and the ninth-ranked Sooners were briefly back in the national picture for the first time since 1987.

  A loss to Nebraska closed out the regular season and earned the Sooners an invitation to the John Hancock Bowl in El Paso, Texas. One of the top six bowls that season, but not exactly stocked with the same appeal the Orange Bowl carries.

  And to top it off, OU was slated to face an unranked Texas Tech squad that only got the bid because of its close proximity to the venue. Much of the talk going into the game centered around Tech running back Bam Morris and his talents.

  But by the end of that Christmas Eve showdown, Morris had been overshadowed by OU quarterback Cale Gundy in an impressive 41-10 thrashing.

  “We had hopes of going to the Orange Bowl and winning the Big Eight championship that season, but it just didn’t work out that way,” said Gundy. “But we were determined to play well and we did. The defense shutdown Bam Morris, and we had a very good day offensively.”

  Gundy completed 15 of 26 passes that night for 215 yards and three touchdowns, two of which went to tight end Rickey Brady. The Sooners rolled out to a 28-3 lead by the intermission and never looked back.

  “It was a good way to go out and finish my career,” added Gundy, who finished as OU’s all-time leader in just about every statistical passing category.

  The Softer Side

  Howard Schnellenberger left little in the way of a lasting legacy when he resigned under pressure from OU president David Boren after just one season. There were rumors of excessive drinking and outrageous conduct away from the field. And his lack of respect for the tradition that came before made him few friends of Sooners past.

  Bob Stoops. Photo by Jerry Laizure

  But Schnellenberger wasn’t all bad.

  A few months into his stint as OU coach, Schnelly and his wife were invited over to a neighborhood party where everyone basically spent the evening getting to know each other. After all of the guests had arrived and gathered in the family room, the hosts had every individual stand up, make introductions and share a little something about their lives.

  One elderly gentleman who was recovering from a stroke struggled to keep his balance as he got up from his chair. Seeing the situation, Schnellenberger joined the man in standing and helped steady him by holding his arm.

  “I’ve got you, big fella,” said Schnellenberger in a gruff but calming voice. “I’ll take care of the balance part if you’ll take care of the story.”

  It was a touching scene.

  Bob Who?

  Outside of coaching circles, Bob Stoops was not exactly a household name in 1998. Sure, he had developed into one of the top defensive coordinators in the country, but that did not guarantee him much in the way of public notoriety (at least outside Florida, where he was coaching at the time).

  But even though college football fans may not have been aware of Stoops’ impressive credentials, Joe Castiglione knew all he needed to know about the man. And when it came time to hire a new football coach, OU’s athletic director went straight for Stoops.

  “I was aware of Bob’s career from its earliest stages. I kept an eye on him long before he was an assistant at Florida,” said Castiglione. “Everything he did was impressive. Even from his earliest days as a player, Bob was a great leader. And you could see it in everything he did.”

  Oklahoma was coming off of three straight losing seasons, and there were a number of unknowns for the Sooners’ next head coach. But Stoops embraced any and all challenges the program might present. And on December 1, 1998, he became the 21st head coach at OU.

  Little did anyone know, it would be the beginning of something so special.

  The Turning Point

  When Bob Stoops took over as head coach prior to the 1999 season, Oklahoma fans were starving for positives. The Sooners had not posted a winning record in five years, and it seemed more like 500 years.

  There were fans who expected miracles, but for the most part they just wanted to see a good product on the field. No more 51-7 losses to Texas A&M or embarrassing 73-21 setbacks against Nebraska.

  Stoops talked about expectations and becoming contenders again, and then his team went out and delivered a 7-5 season that included the program’s first bowl appearance since 1994. It proved to be the beginning of something special, and a year later the Sooners brought home their first national title in 15 seasons.

  Players like quarterback Josh Heupel and defensive specialists Roy Williams, Rocky Calmus and Torrance Marshall led the revival.

  Read, Recognize, React

  Texas football fans still have nightmares about Oklahoma safety Roy Williams. At times, it’s hard to close their eyes and not see him somehow adding to his legacy at the expense of their beloved Longhorns.

  Williams seemingly made a habit of doing just that during his three seasons at OU.

  The most memorable of Williams’ clutch performances against Texas came in the 2001 contest, when he was the central character in a well-documented series of plays that decided the outcome. The biggest of those plays unfolded as a blitzing Williams leapt over a blocker to hit quarterback Chris Simms’ arm, causing the ball to flutter into the awaiting arms of linebacker Teddy Lehman. Three steps later, Lehman was in the end zone, and OU was on its way to a 14-3 victory.

  Josh Heupel. Photo bye Jerry Laizure

  “It was cool because it was such a big game,” said Williams. “But I was over that after I talked to my mom that night. She said, ‘Great job,’ and that was that. It was time to move ahead.”

  Finally, the Monkey Jumps Off

  There are so many challenges and expectations when following a legend in the coaching business. Gary Gibbs found that out the hard way from 1989-94 when he succeeded Oklahoma’s all-time winningest coach, Barry Switzer.

  Add in the fact that Gibbs took over a program hit hard by NCAA sanctions, and the hurdles his Sooners faced during that period were even larger than expected. Beating Texas was the biggest obstacle.

  Gibbs’ Oklahoma squad was a nationally ranked power for each of its first four meetings with Texas. And each time, despite being unranked, Texas sent the Sooners back north with a loss in tow.

  It was a trend OU fans grew tired of in a hurry.

  Finally in 1993, the 16th-ranked Sooners gave Gibbs a much-needed shot in the arm via a 38-17 victory in Dallas. But the celebration was short-lived. The following season, Texas returned to its winning ways with a 17-10 triumph. Gibbs was fired at the end of the year.

  Asked what advice he would give incoming coach John Blake, Gibbs replied: “Beat Texas.”

  The Runt

  When quarterback Nate Hybl arrived at Oklahoma after transferring from Georgia, one of the first people he ran into during off-season workouts was Quentin Griffin, a small unimposing-looking back from Aldine, Texas. Hybl was unimpressed, to say the least.

  “I thought to myself ‘Why in the world did OU waste a scholarship on
this little runt?’” said Hybl. “He’s 5-foot-2, 150 pounds with this big Afro. He wouldn’t talk to you. I just couldn’t believe he would be around very long.”

  Quentin Griffin. Photo by Jerry Laizure

  When fall practice began prior to the 1999 season, Hybl found himself on the scout team and in the same backfield with Griffin. Slowly, his opinion changed.

  “We’d be running scout team offense, and ‘Q’ would dice up the defense with some really nice runs. Still, I figured being as small as he was, he’d get swallowed up in a real game,” said Hybl, who was sitting out due to NCAA rules.

  Seven games into the season, OU’s starting backfield had been so depleted by injuries that the coaching staff decided to bring Griffin out of redshirt. Over the final five games of ’99, the diminutive back averaged 6.4 yards per carry in helping the Sooners earn an Independence Bowl berth.

  “It was amazing. He was better in real games than he was in practice,” laughed Hybl. “I couldn’t have been more wrong about him. He turned out to be a great player.”

  Griffin finished his career fourth on OU’s all-time rushing list. Not bad for a runt.

  Watching and Waiting

  Long before Bob Stoops became the 21st head coach at Oklahoma, he watched the Sooners develop and maintain a tradition that was second to none. As a defensive back at Iowa, he had played against Oklahoma in 1979, and even as a teenager, he watched Barry Switzer’s Sooners on TV.

  Like everybody else, Stoops was shocked to see a proud Oklahoma program plunge into mediocrity during the 1990s. From 1994-98, the Sooners failed to record a winning season, instead posting a combined mark of 23-34-1.

  “I had felt all along and said that [Oklahoma] was a program that should be doing more than it was. I looked at the tradition and the history of winning and the recruiting base,” said Stoops, pointing to the reasons he took the position. “I thought the potential was here to get back to those winning ways and to become a contender again.”

  In his first season as coach, Stoops led the Sooners to a 7-5 record and their first bowl appearance since 1994.

  “Ace 92 Switch”

  There have been 50 times in the history of Oklahoma football that a player has topped 100 receiving yards in a single game. Curtis Fagan’s name is not on that list.

  Bob Stoops. Photo by Jerry Laizure

  That doesn’t mean Fagan didn’t do his share of catching the ball as a Sooner. He finished his career ranked fourth on OU’s all-time receptions list. But his one big chance to hit the century mark slipped through his fingers, if you will.

  It happened during his redshirt freshman season in 1999 as the Sooners were supplying Bedlam rival Oklahoma State with a 44-7 beating. Fagan hauled in a 73-yard touchdown pass and was sitting just 23 yards shy of 100 later in the third quarter.

  “We were pretty much kicking their butts at that point, and Coach [Steve] Spurrier thought it was a good chance to get Curtis 100 yards,” said OU receiver Damian Mackey. “I remember the play he sent in—ace 92 switch—which called for Curtis to run a corner route.”

  Fagan heard the play and lined up with most of his focus on running the proper route. Spurrier was a stickler about precise, crisp pass routes. Run a bad route and there would be hell to pay.

  What Fagan did not notice as the Sooners came to the line of scrimmage was that OSU switched to a cover-2 defense. That meant he would probably get jammed at the line, which is exactly what happened.

  “We rarely got touched that day, but Curtis couldn’t break loose from his man,” laughed Mackey. “There [Josh] Heupel is bird-dogging him for at least five seconds, and Curtis is flailing away trying to get free.”

  Heupel finally checked off to another receiver, and Fagan’s shot at 100 yards was gone. Although almost a quarter of action was yet to be played, Fagan spent the rest of his afternoon standing next to Spurrier, listing everything he did wrong on that one play.

  Close Call

  Television crews camped out nearby and the phone never stopped ringing. Oklahoma had just beaten Arkansas in the 2002 Cotton Bowl, and what should have been a time of celebration for coach Bob Stoops and his family turned into several chaotic days of speculation and rumor.

  At the heart of the matter was a job opening. Not just any job opening—the one Stoops’ former boss, Steve Spurrier, had resigned at Florida three days earlier. Stoops served as Spurrier’s defensive coordinator there for three seasons, and Florida came calling to see if OU’s head man wanted to go back to the Sunshine State.

  A season removed from the Sooners winning a national championship (in his second season), Stoops suddenly found himself in a fishbowl as the media, fans and the football world anxiously awaited his decision. He maintained his silence on the matter as he and his family agonized over the decision, which finally came during a Monday press conference.

  “From time to time, people have choices in their lives as to what they want to do. I want to clarify and straighten out so many of the wrong rumors that have been out there recently,” Stoops explained. “I feel committed and strong to what we’re doing here at Oklahoma, about the strength of our program and where it’s heading. I feel that is what’s most important to me, continuing to develop this program at Oklahoma.”

  With those words came a collective sigh of relief in Soonerland.

  Heart to Hearts

  In the hours and days immediately after coach John Blake’s removal as OU head coach at the end of the 1998 season, a revolt simmered among a large group of Sooner players, many of whom were angered by the move.

  Roy Williams, Curtis Fagan, Andre Woolfolk, Damian Mackey and Josh Norman all decided to transfer to different schools at the end of the semester.

  “We were all leaving and that was that,” said Mackey, a freshman receiver who spent the season in redshirt. “Roy was going to UCLA. Josh was leaving. Andre, too. It pretty much had already been decided.”

  But before any papers were signed or any moving vans pulled up outside the Wilkinson Center, a message appeared on the lounge chalkboard. It read “Freshman meeting tonight.”

  Trent Smith, a freshman tight end from Clinton, Oklahoma, and a lifelong OU fan, wanted to talk to his classmates before they did anything rash. So he called the meeting and delivered a speech that potentially rescued Oklahoma from several more seasons of mediocrity.

  “Trent came in and he was just about in tears,” said Mackey. “He really spoke from the heart. He told us everything about the whole Sooner tradition and all of the great players who came before us. He went on about what OU football meant to him growing up.”

  Almost all of the players in the room that night had come in during OU’s biggest recruiting weekend the previous season. They formed immediate bonds and were as tight as a class of complete strangers could be after such a short period of time.

  And they listened as Smith listed all of the reasons why they should stay.

  “Trent talked about how great our class could be and how close we had all become. He talked about the future and all of the possibilities it held,” added Mackey. “That night, we decided we could be the class that helped get OU back to the way it was during the glory years.

  “It’s hard to admit an 18-year-old kid could influence your life like that, but Trent’s speech was the reason we all stayed. It was one of those life-altering moments.”

  Two seasons later, life was altered again, as that group of freshman helped lead OU to its first national championship in 15 years.

  Auntie V

  Imagine Oklahoma football without Roy Williams. Definitely not a pretty picture. Oh, the Sooners would have still enjoyed a tremendous amount of success without the All-America safety, but it’s hard to measure his full impact in terms of wins and losses.

  Maybe the 2000 national championship would have remained a dream. Maybe not.

  Either way, Sooner fans owe a debt of gratitude to Williams’ aunt, Valetta Robinson. It was her persistence that opened the initial line of com
munication between her nephew and OU assistant coach Joe Dickinson. Otherwise, Williams may have ended up at UCLA or Stanford.

  Dickinson was a part of head coach John Blake’s much-maligned staff in 1997 when the Sooners were struggling to keep their heads above water in the new Big 12 Conference. They had recruited some decent talent to Norman, but for whatever reason, it wasn’t showing on the field.

  Robinson worked in OU’s athletic cafeteria and promoted her nephew to the OU staff every chance she got. Dickinson took the bait and made Williams his primary target.

  “My man Joe D. was relentless,” said Williams, of the recruiting process. “All of the coaches played a big role in me coming to Oklahoma, but Coach Dickinson was probably the main guy.”

  Williams eventually signed with OU, but before he played a single down, Blake and his entire staff were fired.

  Throwback

  The extreme picture of a college jock from the 1980s. That’s how teammates described OU lineman Matt O’Neal, he of the mustache, long hair, tattoos and brash personality. A native Californian, O’Neal looked better suited for the World Wrestling Federation.

  “I was intimidated by him because he was this big, tough-looking guy who believed in the ranking system,” said quarterback Nate Hybl. “If you were an underclassman, you didn’t hang out with guys like him very often. He was just kind of a throwback-type player from the [1980s].”

  Despite his less-than-conforming appearance, 6-foot-3, 265-pound O’Neal was a good football player. His hard work in the trenches earned him third team All-Big 12 honors as a senior.

  Q, is that You?

  A few days after the 2002 Cotton Bowl, in which Oklahoma beat Arkansas 10-3, running back Quentin Griffin barely had time to savor the fact he earned offensive MVP honors when he underwent surgery on his jaw. Griffin returned to school for the second semester shortly after and attended an OU basketball game on his first night back.

  “I’m sitting at the game and here comes this kid who looks a little bit like Quentin, but he’s a lot chubbier looking in the face. He sits down next to me, and I’m thinking it’s some new recruit,” said tight end Trent Smith. “We didn’t speak or anything the entire game.”